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Variety in Your Workout
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Your Top 10 Ways to Exercise
A few weeks ago I asked you guys to tell me what your favorite ways to exercise are, and you all gave me some great responses — I'm even motivated to do a little more dancing and dust off the old Rollerblades.
After tallying up all the votes, I've narrowed down the most popular activities. So for the most desirable ways to exercise, just read more
Fit Tip: Beat Boredom with New Routes
Here we are not yet into Summer and many of us are already getting bored with our workout routines. Feeling bored after doing something more than once or twice is totally normal. Why do you think I use a different cardio machine every time I go to the gym?
Add Resistance to Your Workout: Medicine Balls
I love using a medicine ball at the gym and if you haven't tried incorporating them into your workout, you should. It's a great and fun way to work with a partner as well as a great way to really change up your normal routine.
Power Med-Balls ($12.95-99.95) are a great option for your home gym.
Other Search Results
Class Act: Skinny Jeans Fitness Workout
I won't lie, the name caught my attention: Skinny Jeans Workout, a place where denim and my hamstrings collide. I find the fashion / fitness connection slightly amusing, but the 45 minute class left me more than slightly sweaty. It truly is a sculpting workout that borrows from a diverse array of fitness methods.
5 Reasons to Try Kettlebells
I can't stress enough how important it is to mix up the equipment you use when strength training. Dumbbells, weight machines, and resistance bands are common fitness tools you'll find at the gym, but you may have also seen kettlebells. Though they look like some medieval torture device you want to avoid, they're actually a really effective way to tone and strengthen your muscles.
Fit Tip: Keep Your Workouts in One Place
If you're one of those people who has a tough time sticking to a regular workout routine, here is some good advice: do all your workouts in the same place. Although variety can prevent boredom, it won't help if variety makes you skip out on workouts because you can't keep track of where and when you're sweating it out each week. So just to get into the routine, exercise in one designated place, whether it's the gym, your local park, your spare bedroom, or a yoga studio.
DVD Review: Dance and Be Fit — Abs Burn
The last DVD of the Dance and Be Fit video series, Abs Burn ($15), targets your middle without a single crunch in the entire 50-minute running time of the video.
The five-minute warm-up is followed by two 20-minute core-sculpting workouts. The first focuses on floor and standing exercises that strengthen and tone your abs and back muscles.
Food Review: Bear Naked Chocolaty Cherry Granola Bar
Granola bars make great pre and post-workout snacks, so I always keep some in my gym bag to nosh on. Since variety is the spice of life, I like to try out news ones, and recently sampled some Bear Naked Grain-ola Bars.
Each bar is made with 15 to 17 grams of whole grains, with no hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, or preservatives.
DVD Review: 10 Minute Solution KnockOut Body
Famous ladies like Lauren Conrad, Jenna Fischer, and Adriana Lima swear that boxing is a great way to get in shape without getting bored. I concur with their assessments after working out with 10 Minute Solution KnockOut Body Workout Kit with Weighted Gloves ($22). As with the other 10 Minute Solution DVDs, the video is broken up into five, 10-minute workouts that can be done separately, all at once, or you can customize by pairing two or three workouts.
Lifting Tip: Change Up Your Speed
Just as it's important to challenge and confuse your muscles by using different weight-lifting equipment, you can increase the benefits of weight training even more by varying the tempo, or speed, of your reps.
While very slow repetitions challenge the endurance strength of the muscle, it's important to incorporate a variety of tempos into your workout, including medium and faster-paced speeds. Change up your speed by doing three sets: one slow, one medium, and one quick.
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